Twitter is all set to issue an Initial Public Offering (IPO), but is still in a fix over the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ stock market, which has indeed started the competition between the two for grabbing the high profile deal.
NYSE looking to win young tech firm with Twitter IPO
NYSE has not been a popular exchange for technology companies for their IPO issue. However, the situation overturned in the last recession when NYSE started listing start-ups more aggressively. NYSE got LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) and Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) listed on its exchange, though it missed Facebook. NYSE, with its 200-year-old history, can attach prestige to the listing company.
“That’s going to be one of the most visible transactions when they come out,” NYSE Euronext (NYX) Executive Vice President Scott Cutler said during Bloomberg West summit. “We will still compete for it. It is not determined yet.”
NYSE will catch the eyes of young technology companies if it succeeds in getting Twitter listed. On the other hand, for NASDAQ, Twitter represents a break to earn its past glory and get over the technical hitch that marred its image at the time of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s IPO launch.
NASDAQ looking to make amends for the botched Facebook IPO
Bruce Aust, executive vice president of NASDAQ OMX Group Inc.’s corporate client group speaking during a Bloomberg Summit said that they are expecting to have a great shot at Twitter.
In 2012, NASDAQ took up the biggest technology IPO of Facebook, but the technical errors that crippled the whole process were followed by investor lawsuit, and an investigation by the SEC.
Against the accusation of breaching security laws while processing of the IPO, NASDAQ settled by paying $10 million in May. The SEC criticized NASDAQ for “poor system and decision making.” NASDAQ neither denied nor accepted the fault during the settlement.
Twitter quiet on the issue
Twitter spokesman Jim Prosser did not comment on the news. Last week, Twitter announced that it has filed all the required paper to go public while not going into any details about the time-frame or financials of the offering. Twitter has filed for IPO with U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) through a process that will keep the S-1 prospectus covered but will be disclosed shortly before the road show to investors.
Twitter has allured more than 200 million members to its platform, who use the micro blogging site to share 140-character status update. The company has been valued at around $10.5 billion by GSV Capital Corp, which is one of the investors.
